Digital credentials truly came alive in 2025. What once served as proof of completion has evolved into a dynamic signal of capability seen, shared, and acted upon across the global learning and employment ecosystem.
This year, Accredible credentials reached more learners, drove more engagement, and created more real-world outcomes than ever before. Our platform issued over 42 million new credentials in 2025, bringing the Accredible network to more than 170 million credentials worldwide. At the same time, more than 9 million new learner recipients joined the ecosystem, expanding how verified learning connects people, programs, and opportunity.
Explore more highlights, trends, and top skills in Accredible’s 2025 Year in Review, and see what the most impactful programs did differently in the Certified Impact Awards 2025.
But the real story lies in what those credentials did once they left the Accredible platform.
Verified Learning in Motion
For learners, digital credentials became fuel for forward motion. Thousands used Accredible’s transcript feature to apply to universities or share verified records with current and prospective employers — turning learning into opportunity.
At the ecosystem level, visibility surged. More than 800,000 learners chose to join Spotlight across 60 issuer-branded directories, forming one of the largest verified talent networks in the world.
Spotlight evolved from a static profile to a dynamic, employer-facing presence — built around the brands learners trust, not a single centralized platform. Recipients can now curate their profiles to highlight achievements, showcase endorsements, and surface skills to hiring teams.
Issuers also gained new ways to elevate their learners within Spotlight Directory, customizing how they feature recipients and market their programs to drive greater employer and marketplace engagement. For issuers managing more sensitive programs, the Private Spotlight Directory offered targeted visibility — the right audience, the right signal, at the right time.
Several of this year’s Certified Impact Award winners — including the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO), Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, and Trimble — use Spotlight to amplify learner visibility and strengthen employer alignment.
Recognition Without Boundaries
The reach of recognition expanded dramatically in 2025 as verified achievement went truly social. With native sharing now available on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and BlueSky, recipients celebrated milestones on the platforms that align with their goals and reflect how today’s generation builds a professional presence.
One viral TikTok about Asana reached millions of viewers and drove thousands of course signups and new badges issued in just weeks — clear proof that verified learning doesn’t stay confined to professional networks. It moves through culture.
Social sharing of badges on Accredible grew 215% year over year, fueling record-high referral traffic. In fact, 34% of shared credentials (up from 29%) drove click-throughs from prospective learners exploring customer programs.
At the same time, credentials began flowing more seamlessly across institutional systems — from top learning management and assessment platforms to communication tools like Slack — reducing friction from issuance to sharing to validation. Each connection strengthens the credential’s role in everyday learning and work.
From Data to Direction
2025 was also the year we began unlocking what happens after a credential is issued. Issuers gained new visibility through enhanced analytics from Spotlight profile interactions, beta-testing employer engagement, and piloting conversion tracking that ties credential activity to real outcomes.
Our American Council on Education (ACE) collaboration helped standardize program-level partner reporting. And Recommendations enhancements began guiding learners toward their next achievement.
Together, these advancements mark the early foundation of outcome intelligence, helping every program understand not just who earned a credential, but what that credential leads to.
Delivery, at Scale and by Design
In 2025, we didn’t just ship our roadmap. We shipped 61 customer-requested features, turning issuer feedback into meaningful product progress at record speed.
Every launch — from digital credential transcripts, to expanded Spotlight and social sharing capabilities — reflected the needs of our credentialing community. That balance of long-term strategy and operational responsiveness continues to define how we build.
Looking Ahead: Building the Verified Future
We’re closing 2025 with a major milestone: the launch of SMS Engagement, making Accredible the first credentialing platform to enable real-time text communication for credential delivery and engagement. This new channel will drive faster recipient responses, higher engagement, and more credential sharing — meeting learners and professionals where they already are.
And it’s just the start of what’s ahead.
In 2026, we’ll launch Verified Career Records and expand credential portability and trust through open standards like OB3 and W3C-VC. We’re also advancing new work on personalized job-market insights and skills intelligence, helping organizations and learners understand not just what a credential represents, but also how it connects to real opportunity. It’s a space we’re deeply invested in and one we can’t wait to share more about soon.
2025 proved that verified learning can travel, be seen, and create measurable outcomes. 2026 will prove that it can evolve into a verified capability, becoming the foundation of a more connected, transparent, and skills-driven world of work.
